Matt & Amy write home: Arthur's Slide!

22^nd September 2011 – 7pm

It was bittersweet to leave York yesterday morning. It’s always exciting to be setting off for the next place but York was just so lovely we could easily have spent another week there. It was a really interesting mix of beautiful old buildings, quirky shops, and quaint countryside. If we’re not careful, we’ll use up all of our time and still be in the UK! We continued on, still in the hire car, to check out Gateshead and Newcastle. Just before getting into town, we stopped at a sculpture called the Angel of the North. It’s bloody massive. The footings go 20 metres into the ground and when you get to the top of the hill and feel that wind, you know why.

MATT STANDING UNDER THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH

Gateshead and Newcastle are on opposite sides of the Tyne River, which is why it’s called Newcastle Upon Tyne. We drove into town around lunch time and went straight to the Millenium bridge, the world’s only tilting bridge. I thought that was a nice claim to fame even though I really didn’t know what they meant. We were lucky enough to get there at noon which is when the walking bridge “tilts” up to let the ships through… strangely there were no ships though, so I think they were just showing off!

MILLENNIUM BRIDGE, TILTING!

Alnwick Castle, north of Newcastle in Alnwick, was highly recommended to us a must see, and as it was the castle where the first two Harry Potter movies were filmed, we were there in a heartbeat! It was a bit exciting to be there, we recognised a few things from the movies and besides that the castle was impressive.

ALNWICK CASTLE AKA HOGWARTS!

We stopped in a little town called Berwick just before the Scottish border for some lunch. It was so cheap… bangers and mash, burger and chips, a soft drink and a pint of Guinness for £9.75!!! That’s about $15… Anyway the town was beautiful (again) with cobblestone streets, old buildings and bridges, surrounded by spectacular rolling hills.

Our next stop would be Edinburgh and we were pretty pumped to be crossing into Scotland. The scenery changed almost immediately. It was a beautiful drive, but I missed most of it… I was asleep!

YEP, THEY LET THIS GUY IN

Upon arrival to our B&B we were informed that our room had been double booked. The owner thought we’d like to hear the story of how it happened 4 times over and on the 4^th time through we just had to walk out the door. Even then he followed us outside, so we just kept walking. In hindsight it was pretty rude of us, but we already told him 3 times we didn’t care! We were stuffed, it was dinner time and we just needed to find somewhere else!

We explored Edinburgh today starting with a hike up Arthur’s Seat. We drove around looking for the easiest route up the mountain and off we went. We got a little way up when the path faded into goat track and then into nothing so we climbed back down. We asked an older lady who was walking past the best way to get to the top and she said to follow her because that’s where she was going. Well, we were huffing and puffing and that old lady powered on and disappeared into the distance.

STILL SMILING... EARLY ON!

"THERE'S NO WAY THIS IS THE ONLY WAY!"

Along the way a bit further up, we stopped for another breather and an old man (probably pushing 70 I reckon) walked straight past us. I’m not kidding, these steps were so steep and this guy just zoomed straight past. I asked him if he did the walk every day and he replied “Yes, every day. Don’t worry, no one ever died from taking the steps.” And off he went, disappearing into the distance.

I was feeling pretty deflated. The steps where insane, even with our long legs we both had to really jump up them. I felt so unfit and really considered giving up! After a little pep talk from Matt (it was more like a lecture, or a boot camp instructor going ape shit) we continued on. It was so worth it. The view was spectacular. The wind at the top was so strong I could barely stand up, it really felt like it could pick me up and take me away.

THE WIND BEFORE IT GOT REALLY WINDY!

WE MADE IT TO THE TOP OF ARTHUR'S SEAT! (AND THERE WAS NO SEAT)

MATT HOLDING ON FOR DEAR LIFE

HAPPY TO HAVE MADE IT AND HAPPY TO BE DESCENDING AGAIN

ONE OF MANY GORGEOUS VIEWS FROM UP THERE

Every step up to the top I was worried about walking back down. It would have been a nightmare. I said all along that I’d hoped there was a massive slippery dip down the other side or at the very least a nicer way down and thank goodness there was. We had a lovely stroll back down the grassy slope, laughing all the way at the ridiculous path we’d taken to the top. Then my dreams of a slippery dip became a reality when my feet went out from underneath me! I did this bizarre flip and somehow landed on my belly, sliding down the hill and landing in prickly weeds. The little needles even drew tiny drops of blood! Matt erupted in laughter and could barely ask me if I was okay between his snorts and I was laughing even more.

THE EASY WAY DOWN AND THE WAY WE SHOULD HAVE WALKED UP

HE TAKES A PHOTO BEFORE HE HELPS ME UP!

Matt walked and I hobbled back to the car and we set off for Edinburgh Castle, stopping off for some well-deserved cake and coffee along the way!

The Castle was MASSIVE! It’s built on this massive rock in the middle of town and sits so close to the cliff’s edge, you swear it could just topple over. The walk up to the castle was quite nice, there’s a real village atmosphere and the sun was shining… and of course that meant that there were people absolutely everywhere.

THE CASTLE AND STANDS FOR THE MILITARY TATTOO

All of the streets were cobblestone and the thing that has fascinated me about all of these sites is that the stones have been there for so long, the traffic has worn tracks into the solid rock. Even the stone stair cases have dips in the middle. Anyway, that’s probably a very mundane thing to be fascinated by, but what I’m trying to say is, it has made me imagine what life was like back in the day when those “cool little holes” in the walls had a purpose… to aim and fire at anyone who dared attack! Heavy!

CANNON

When we arrived at the Castle, it was just before the daily cannon fire. Again, it was a total fluke that we were there at the right time. It feels like we have stumbled across so much cool stuff by chance! The cannon fire is at 1pm on the dot and there is one shot.

OLD MATE FIRING THE CANNON

After wandering around the castle we headed back into the city for lunch. We stopped at a Whisky Bar and Matt had haggis! Our waiter was Australian and suggested that if he wanted to try it, this was the place. Apparently a lot of places do it very poorly and taints the dish as not very nice. Matt absolutely LOVED IT! He pretty much licked the plate clean. I tried a bit and even though I don’t eat lamb, it tasted pretty good, quite spicy. The waiter said most Aussies are put off by what goes into it, but he said that most pies and sausage rolls have less meat in them than haggis.

THE STREETS OF EDINBURGH, IT'S ALL SO OLD!

MATT'S HAGGIS

This afternoon we walked up Calton Hill where we had amazing 360° views of the city. We walked all over that thing! There were more old buildings on this hill, like a couple of really old observatories, but mostly the hill was open park. We have come home early for a night in. We’re just having some pizza now and I think it will be early to bed.